Plaksadvipa

Plakṣadvīpa (Sanskrit: प्लक्षद्वीप) is the dvipa ("island" or "continent") of the terrestrial world, as envisioned in the cosmologies of Hinduism, is among seven dvipas as described by Bhagavata Puranas[1]

The word Plakṣadvīpa literally refers to "the land of fig trees" where Plakṣa is the name of the species (also called Plaksl or Fig) and dvīpa means "island" or "continent".

More than 2000 years ago the writers of Puranas have adopted similar method and divided earth in to natural divisions based on the predominant flora or fauna of this region. According to Matsya, Bhagavata Puranas, the world was divided into 7 dvipas.

They are:

  1. Jambu dvipa (land of the Indian berries) - Asia
  2. Kusha dvipa (land of grass) - Oceania including Indonesia and the Philippines (excl. Australia)
  3. Plaksha dvipa (land of the fig trees) - South America
  4. Pushkara dvipa (land of lakes) - North America
  5. Shalmali dvipa (land of the silk cotton trees) - Australia
  6. Krauncha dvipa (land of the krauncha birds or the demoiselle crane) - Africa
  7. Shaka dvipa (land of the trees) - Europe or Greater Europe.[1][2]

References
  1. http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/37272469/Geographical_knowledge_of_ancient_Indians.docx
  2. https://www.academia.edu/26066098/Reappraisal_of_Linkages_between_Concepts_and_Ideas_in_Geography_and_the_Puranas_
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